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E3 08: Hands On with Rock Band 2 Premium Drum Set

by Dick Ward July 18th 2008 9:04 PM CDT1 Comments

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Now I'm not a drummer, but I play some drums. I was in a band for around ten years and have plenty of experience with real instruments. I owned a $2000 keyboard, and easily had $10k invested into my modest studio setup. I tell you this not to show off or brag about my gear, but to make the point that when it comes to music gear, I know my stuff. I know what's good and what's crap and my god are the Ion "Drum Rocker" drums good.

To start with, it's fully adjustable. Put the pads and the cymbals anywhere they're comfortable. Set up like your favorite drummer, or just play around until you get the arrangement that's right for you. The bass pedal is nice and heavy, and doesn't need to sit on a pair of bars directly under the drums so people who prefer to play with it off to the side a bit should have no trouble at all. The bass pedal though, is my only big source of criticism on this kit.

The spring in the pedal is nice and light, and allows for a much quicker response, which is nice, but the fact that there's a spring at all is a bit of a bummer. It's metal like a real pedal, and it's got velcro and spikes like a real pedal, so why doesn't it kick like a real pedal? Most, if not all electronic drum kits have a sensor pad for the bass drum, much like the pads for the others, that hooks into the system while the kick pedal itself remains free. Not giving players the option to switch the pedal out for one of their choosing is unfortunate, but probably neccessary to keep the price down.

What's surprising is the quality of the pads. They're quiet and incredibly responsive. I was able to do double taps and rolls with no problem at all, something that unfortunately didn't work too well with the original set. They're also very quiet, and having good quality velocity sensitive pads is never a bad thing. This particular set had been in use for quite some time and while there were obvious marks from stick misses all over the place, the pads still felt like new.

The cymbals are nice as well. Again, the emphasis is on realism, and these feel like real cymbals. The downside is that only two come packaged with the set, and a third is available seperately. As the gentleman who gave us our demo stated while taking an obvious shot at Guitar Hero "Don't let anyone tell you that drum sets only have two cymbals".

Perhaps the best news about the set though is that you'll be able to attach a brain (the thing that holds samples for electric drum kits) to it and have a fully functional drum kit. An Alesis DM5 runs about $150 on eBay and is more than most people will ever need. So for the price of a lower end electronic drum kit, you get a lower end electronic drum kit that doubles as a Rock Band controller. Not bad, eh?

So while it's not perfect, it's the best thing around by miles. This is really an amazing set for the money, and it's the one instrument that you can play in Rock Band and actually transition to real life with. The Drum Rocker is available for pre-order at DrumRocker.com and will ship this September.